Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Over the last couple of weeks just about every man, woman, child and dog with a blog has been publishing their lists of the best and worst music of 2010. Yet despite the alarming growth of self-styled music critics and the incredible wealth of amazing music of the past being excavated and re-released over the past year, relatively few of this year's truly awesome archival releases have been properly acknowledged.
To help redress the problem, I've put together a list of my own favourite reissues split into two parts – the first dealing with thematic compilations involving various artists (below) and the second covering album reissues and single artist retrospectives will follow in the coming days.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Here's the new video clip for Charles Bradley's stellar single The World (Is Going Up In Flames) backed by the Menahan Street Band. As previously noted, Bradley's ridiculously overdue debut album No Time For Dreaming is slated for release January 25 on Daptone's Dunham imprint.

Friday, December 3, 2010

A sharply attired Liam Hayes and his fellow Plush-mates got into the songs from last year's unjustly overlooked Bright Penny (Broken Horse) album during a three-night stand in Chicago at my favourite North Side nightspot, The Hideout back in June. Yes, Tim Tuten rules.
As you can see from their fantastic version of Bright Penny's awesome closer O Street in the clip below, legendary Chess session drummer Morris Jennings (see Curtis Mayfield's Superfly) and Pieces Of Peace bassist Bernard Reed provide just as soulfully swank support on stage as they do in the studio.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

One of the more entertaining mixes I've come across this year is the Congo Jazz (Excelsior) CD assembled by Rotterdam-based record collector Ziya Ertekin aka DJ Blue Flamingo from his own sizable stash of rare 78s. The title of his second release, the follow-up to Blue Flamingo - 78 rpm, is a bit misleading as the disc is similarly split into three separate thematic sets only one of which deals with vintage jazz recorded in Central Africa during the 1950s.
Not that I'm complaining, however, since the 17 minutes of swinging Congolese rumba tracks by Tino Baroza, Ochestre African Jazz and Marola & Oliveira Tchade comes bookended with a well-chosen set of hot jazz (including contributions from bands led by Red Nichols, Clarence Williams and Winnipeg's own Hartzell "Tiny" Parham) and a lengthy dip into jubilee and hard gospel which boasts a super rare Thomas A. Dorsey demo recording of Hide Me In Thy Bosom from the early 30s that predates Sister Rosetta Tharpe's popular version of 1937. Clearly it's not the sorta stuff you encounter every day so the Congo Jazz selection is well-worth tracking down. And vinyl fiends should grab the double LP version of Congo Jazz which includes a bonus mix of West African highlife and calypso recorded for the Senafone label on the fourth side.